>> gretchen: and it will be eric. i just made the announcement. as the guest, that's your honor. we'll see you tomorrow. bill: all right, fox news alert now. he might be one of the most controversial figures in the obama administration now, the attorney general eric holder, he's in the hot seat, facing republican senators who want answers. we are 30 minutes away, fireworks expected in the senate hearing, republican senators accusing holder of making, quote, dramatic mistakes on everything, from the paperwork, to high stakes terror trials. good morning, i'm bill hemmer, big day in "america's newsroom". martha: good morning bill and good morning, everybody, i'm martha maccallum on this wednesday morning, our nation's top law enforcement official is expected to take quite a barrage of questions from lawmakers today. it's going to be very interesting. bill: the topic list grows by the month. senator orrin hatch, he leads our broadcast, senator, welcome back here. you have stated that eric

holder has made dramatic mistakes. name one. >> well, you know, just with regard to enemy combatants, he wants to give them the same constitutional rights as american citizens. i don't agree with that, i think they're enemy combatants. he wants them tried by civil courts, rather than by military commissions. he wants to close down guantanamo. i think we've got $200 million in guantanamo. so it's a perfect place to try them, it's offshore, it's safe. they just built a $75 million courtroom to take care of it. and i think those things are wrong. secondly, a number of people are very upset at the way he did not disclose his amicas brief in the padilla case, that was a very, very important case and it looks to some as though he deliberately did not disclose that. now, i'm sure he'll say it was an oversight but it was an important constitutional case, important supreme court case. these are things that really are both ring, you know,

republicans and in particular, i think the general public in general. bill: you could -- jose padilla was the guy who was picked up, and holder filed a brief regarding how he thought he should have been handled in a civilian court rather than in the military court in south carolina. go back to khalid shaikh mohammed, the white house has taken management ultimately of this decision. does that weaken what some would argue is already a weakened attorney general? >> well, i think they basically have to admit that he is wrong on this, that his desire to have khalid sheikh mohammed tried in civil courts in new york city just isn't going to work and when the new york city mayor and others became aware of just what that would mean, the cost, the high cost of try trying khalid shaikh mohammed not only in new york city but anywhere in the united states, when you have a perfectly good venue down there at

guantanamo, just seems -- you know, it's been very irritating, when the white house basically took it away from eric, i think that kind of slammed him just a little bit. bill: this has been labeled by some, sir, on the outside as the toughest hearing to date for him. >> i don't know about that. bill: do you agree? >> i don't know about that. i like eric holder, i like him personally, supported him for this position, but i have been disappointed in some of the positions he's taken, and look, i don't believe we should be giving constitutional rights to these enemy combatants, i think they ought to be treated fairly and we certainly ought to treat them within the rules but i don't think we have to bend over backwards like we would for any american citizen, and i just plain don't believe terrorists should have the same rights as american citizens. secondly, look, it's important that khalid shaikh mohammed and other terrorists be tried in military commissions. they're acceptable, they're constitutional, it was particularly -- the military

commission system was set up by congress in response to what some thought were not good systems. you know, these are the type of things that i think shows poor judgment on eric's part, and i don't want to be mean to him, but the fact is some of these things are very problematic to republicans in particular, and i think the general public in general. bill: okay, 26 minutes away from that hearing starting there, senator hatch, you will be doing part of the questioning today. we'll watch it from new york. from the hill today, senator, thank you, for your time. martha: that's going to be very interesting and so is this today, wall street is the next big battle ground, folks, watch for this to get also very interesting on capitol hill. the question is how will washington try to step in to clean up some of the bad practices that may have contributed in part to the financial disaster, and this is the latest in a new throwdown between democrats and republicans. that's how it's shaping up right now in d.c. just over 90 minutes from now president obama is going to meet with white house --

at the white house i should say, with top lawmakers on both sides of the aisle. he wants sweeping legislation to pass the senate -- the senate democrats hope it's going to pay by the end of this month, to overhaul our financial system, but the gop is stepping in, they're looking at the early drafts of this and they're saying this adds up to just another bailout -- bailout in the future from taxpayers and that's not what they want to see. say no, that's not what's in the bill. the president is hoping to bring moderate senate republicans on board and there's reason to think he might do that. new hampshire senator judd gregg says the president is the one who is causing the problem between the two sides on this and he will answer the question why, why do he think that, coming up in a little while. bill: in the meantime, martha, on the road to recovery, brand new numbers out moments ago on retail sales, up nearly 2 percent in the month of march. that's the third rise in as many months, 1.6%, the final number. labor department saying consumer prices edged up a

slight 1/10 of a percent in march, while core prices remain flat. it's important to know that consumer spending makes up nearly two-thirds of the overall economy, still, household budgets are under pressure as the hourly earnings are on the climb. stephen moore will dip into that from the "wall street journal" in 30 minutes, too. martha: here's a bit of cheery news for you this wednesday morning, turns out there's a plan that could mean more of your money gets burned up at the gas pump courtesy of uncle sam, a small bipartisan group of senators says here's a good idea to help raise money, how about more tax on gasoline. it's part of the climate and energy bill that is now stalled in congress, this as the price of gas is already expected to rise as it usually does this time of year, ahead of the summer travel season. let's get stuart varney's thoughts on this, anauthorize of "varney & company" on the fox business network, of course. stuart, i feel like every morning i'm waking up, finding there's another way that they're trying to add 10 cents here, 15 cents

there. there's already a tax on gas, isn't there? >> there is. what they're talking about, and this is a proposal we may see formally presented next week is for a gas tax at the federal level, a new extra gas tax, of up to 15 cents a gallon. it's being propod by senators joe lieberman, lindsey graham and john kerry, that's an independent, a republican, and a democrat, bipartisan group. they're going to propose this as part of the new climate bill. a, it would raise an awful lot of money for the federal government, which is indidoo it can't pay its bills, and number two, it would finance some of the needed changes to control emissions. so it's a bipartisan group of senators, it's a proposal for up to 15 cents a gallon, and really, what it's all about is another proposed consumption tax, like the vat you've been hearing about, a tax on what you buy as opposed to what you earn. martha: my first question, does it have the votes to

pass. >> that's a very good question. if you put it up for a vote right now, the flat answer is no. you've got the elections coming up in november. but after the elections, you will have this decifit reduction commission reporting on december 1st. maybe they'll say yes, a consumption tax like a gas tax is what is required. so after the election, it might be a different story from now, when the votes are definitely not there. martha: you wonder is this going to organize which ones he withwe get, we could end up with all of them, a vat tax, a gas tax, right? >> that's unlikely to get all of them but what looks increasingly likely is some kind of tax on what you buy. national sales tax, value added tax, gas tax, energy tax, something to tax what you buy as tz \dollars/{^ed} -- as opposed to taxing your income where we are put much taxed out at this point. martha: it remains to be seen if all these ideas will cause people to drive less

and buy less which wouldn't be good for the economy. >> it would not. martha: good to see you, stuart varney. bill: another fox news alert, word from overseas, the earth was moving overnight again and fatalities with climbing. in china, a series of earthquakes overnight, state tv reporting hundreds have been killed, thousands injured, many more still buried under collapsed buildings, military troops there using shovels to dig through the mud and debris to try and reach survivors. the first quake measured 6.9, hitting just east of tibet. strong winds and aftershocks, making the rescue efforts even more difficult. it's a story that's literally developing at the moment right now. we're watching the headlines as they come out of western china. we've seen it, where, in haiti, we've seen it in south america, now we're seeing it in asia. the earth is moving. we talked to the experts and try to figure out whether this is something abnormal now. they say so far, no, nothing detects that but in china,

they're looking for the dead and more of them, at the moment. martha: last night i kept going to foxnews.com to look at the pictures of this 11-year-old girl, this was truly an incredible rescue, they're calling it a miracle rescue in florida, a girl missing for days, a young autistic girl, and she was found alive, extraordinarily, in an alligator-filled swamp area by a man who says that god showed him the way. we're going to play for you the 911 call that led to that little girl's rescue. bill: what a call it is, too, huh? he left the white house with low poll numbers under a cloud of criticism, always saying that history would judgment and not his critics. now, new comparisons of george bush to an iconic president of years past. martha: interesting comparison there. we are waiting to hear from the people you see on the middle of your screen. sarah palin is going to have a busy day, the former alaskan governor set to speak moments from now as the tea party express moves

into what some call its own town, in town, boston, massachusetts.

captioning performed by mediacaptioning. com flush martha: happy wednesday morning, this is all party of the nationwide floor, rallies are being held across the country, tomorrow and today, they're kicking off today, they're protesting the direction that america is heading. we have interesting polls we're going to show you by the way, and also talking about tax day, which if you didn't know is tomorrow. we've got work to do tonight, maybe? today, former alaska governor sarah palin is expected to address thousands at that rally, set to kick off next hour. keeping an eye on that. bill: grab the green tea, the black tea, the

chamomille tea. dick morris is one of the three speakers in arkansas, dig is author of the brand new book, "2010, take back america", and dick morris is here with us on "america's newsroom". on the tea party, we're 6 1/2 months out. i want to paint it with broad strokes here today. what do you believe is the impact of the tea party? 2010, as you see the landscape today? i think it is, too, first, it's mobilizing the grassroots of the republican party in. in our book, 2010, we point out that the left won the elections of '06 and '08 because it was more mobilized by grassroots, cyber groups roots and tea party is now revving up the right to take back congress, but i think the second impact is it's cleansing the republican party. we have to remember that how corrupt the republican party was when it controlled congress. out of the 200 congressmen, republicans in the house, in

2006-10, 5 percent of them were under indictments, investigations, or resigned. karl rove pointed that out in his book. and you need a cleansing tide. and i think through primary fights and through pressure, the tea party is really cleaning out the republican party. bill: it's interesting, because if you look back in political history, some would argue at times the cleansing actually leads to policies that the people who are doing the cleansing did not want in the end anywhere, so here we are in 2010, far removed from 2006. if the vote were today, how would the house go? >> i think the republican -- i believe -- i'm certain the republicans would win, and i think we probably -- >> bill: you think the republicans today would take the house. >> yes, and i think they'd win it by a margin of about 20 seats. i think right now, you have about -- you need 38 to get power. i have this path in -- this math in my book. you need 38 to get power, we'll pick up a net of about 15 based on retirement, lose

one or two, pick up 16 or 17, a net of 15. and then there are about 17 democrats that i call the walking dead. i think they're definitely going to lose. bill: that have no chance? >> and that would put us within six or seven seats. then i think there are 37 additional democrats who could be defeated, probably half of them will be, so i would say a republican margin of 20. bill: wow, okay. you're on record here, it is mid april. what about the senate? >> wire me up for life! bill: okay. you don't need to go that far. the senate? >> i think we're certain of four seats. delaware, north dakota, indiana, and -- >> bill: arkansas, nevada? >> arkansas, i'd put on that list, yes. and then i think there are a number of other seats that i think we're in very good shape on. i think we'll win in colorado, illinois, pennsylvania, and nevada. that would bring us a net gain of eight. we need ten. then i think we're going to

win in california. at the moment, the frontrunner against boxer is campbell and he's within only two points of boxer, so i think we'll win those nine seats. that would make it 50-50. then the question is where's the tenth seat. and i think you've got a good shot in wisconsin, paul ayers is a good shot in washington state, gillebrand, wyden, rob simmons has a shot against blumenthal and of those five, probably two or three will come in. so i would predict about a 52-48 republican victory. bill: wow, okay. we've got a few more months to figure out the nails and as they associate with states and we'll handle that another time. you're saying today, republicans win the house, and the senate is this close. >> we're going to win both houses. bill: okay. if that's the case, then, is health care repealed? >> no, we can't repeal it because it's a statistical impossibility to get a two-thirds majority in the

senate. there aren't enough democrats up, only a third of the senate is up. but i do believe we can de fund it, we can zero fund the expenditures and veto all of the cuts. those cuts have to be approved affirmtively by congress each year, the medicare cuts, and we can disapprove those cuts. so i think between zero funding the implementation and initiating and vetoing the cuts we can stop any damage from health care and then if we take the white house back in 201 #, we can actually repeal it. bill: that's remarkable. if the election goes the way it's predicted -- how would you describe it? >> 2010, i explain each of the seats and how we're going to win it and what people themselves can do to bring that about. bill: 2010 is the name of the book, dick morris, thank you. >> and at the end of the year. it's funny, it comes out and they publish a paperback a year after the hard cover, can you imagine publishing it in 2011? bill: i think 2012 the name

of the next book! >> like the expiration of a milk carton. bill: have fun in arkansas. martha: guess how much you personally paid for pork projects or earmarks? it kinds of depends on who you ask, which one they are, but we're keeping an eye on your money and how it breaks down for each one of us because it's all your money and we have an amazing way to show you this. also britney spears like you've never seen her before. i'll show you what i mean, after this.

bill: we mentioned this yesterday -- mentioned this yet, toyota pulling the plug on the gx460 after consumer reports issued a rare do not

buy rating, that concern about a rollover problem, dealers are asked to temporarily suspend sales of suv just hours after the report went public, this follows the recent recall of more than eighthole cars and trucks around the world for toyota. martha: well, uncle sam wants his cut, you know, and he wants it tomorrow, folks. today and all this week, we're keeping an eye on your money for you because you know, the government doesn't actually have any of its own money. all the money that the government spends is yours, and they decide how to disburst out as they see fit, right? today we're looking at government earmarks, they will cost taxpayers will $17 billion this year in those earmarks. these and we're ones that are listed in the new edition of the congressional book. william la jeunesse is here to tell us what some of the earmarks you bought with our hard-earned money and how

much they're costing you as part of your it's all your money series. >> reporter: martha, let's say this is the federal budget, that $17 billion figure you talked about, it isn't less than 1 percent, it's a fraction of 1/10 of 1 percent. that much. so if the rest of us can cut out money, can't congress? especially these earmarks? those pet projects that are doled out by lawmakers for the sole benefit of a local employer, a town, that many consider waste. for instance, millions for textile research in north carolina. let's say hundreds of thousands for tattoo removal in california. almost a million dollars for fish management in alabama. now, some lawmakers are trying to quit the habit. house democrats want to ban earmarks this year but only to corporations. house republicans agreed to ban all earmarks. >> it's a very admirable goal for the gop to take a complete moratorium. enforcing it is going to be an issue. it's going to be a problem. so again, this is going to

be to taxpayers, if they don't like it, they're going to make their feelings known to those members of congress. >> reporter: but guess who's refusing to go along, the u.s. senate, led by the two biggest porkers in congress, daniel inouye of how's and senator cochran of mississippi, they accounted for 900 million earmarks alone, to research to a shell fish conference in mississippi. how much of that did you have to pay for? just these two guys. check out the taxpayer calculator, foxnews.com, at the top the -- top the pie chart shows you what portion are paid for by your tax bracket, in this case, about 18 percent. it will then calculate how much you pay individually for the program. so if you have an income of 50,000, that's what we used here, those earmarks are going to cost you about $4, with top wage earners, it's closer to $108. now, that may not sound like much, but remember, there are 535 members of congress who have been doing this for years. so where can you find all

this out? go to foxnews.com/your money, where we will be calculating many earmarks throughout the day and you can also find out what senators voted against this earmark ban, and want to continue to spend your money. martha: good stuff, disturbing sometimes but good to know, william la jeunesse, thank you very much. bill: if you make $100,000 a year, and it's a really simple thing, if you make $100,000 a year, your share on the stimulus funding and the fannie and freddie bailout, it will blow your mind. now, the t.a.r.p. is considerably less. i'm not quite sure why. martha: a lot of it got paid back. bill: that's what i was thinking. martha: yeah. bill: if you go to fox foxnews.com, plug in $100,000, take a salary. martha: you're not going to believe how much it was. bill: several thousand dollars. martha: you're not going to like this. this is what the people vote for and you can say this is a good move or -- >> bill: this is gross, now,

it's not after taxes. it's a big old chunk. check it out online. moments from now the u.s. attorney general eric holder will face questions from senators, several republicans say he's made dramatic mistakes. how hot will the hot seat get? we'll take you there live in minutes. martha: the disaster in haiti was sort of jeb bush's public service as he went down there to do good work after he left office. you remember this. >> my mission as well is to work with president clinton to remind the american people they're suffering, and there's work to be done here. martha: we hadn't seen the former president in a while when he made that appearance. here's a question: is the media rail starting to revise their take on the president that many of them loved to malign? we'll talk to a former bush staffer who also worked for mccain, but then left the mccain campaign staff because he said he could not bring himself to work against president obama. he's got a unique take on all of this coming up.

bill: as we mentioned, fox news alert, moments from the wake-up call, some call it the toughest hearing for eric holder to date, moments from now, the attorney general in the room now, getting acquainted with the accept force. it's the first time in five months he's faced the senate judiciary commit eevment that's lindh key graham out of south carolina, screen right. the last one was after the

health care vote, about a month ago, khalid shaikh mohammed, the planner of christmas day bombing. that issue addressed, jose padilla, not revealed during the hearing, we're waiting for these questions and headlines, too. you can watch the entire testimony as it streams live on our website, foxnews.com. martha: when you wake up and the alarm goes off, oh, good, today is the day i get grilled by capitol hill. a lot of big issues out there. it should be very interesting. we're going to watch this very closely as soon as it gets underway. >> when you take tough decisions like i've had to make, obviously, you ruffle some feathers and i can understand why people would disagree with some of the decisions i made. martha: that was, of course, president bush, that was toward the end of his second

term. and this week marks the 65th anniversary of president harry truman taking office and that has prompted one columnist to see an historical connection between the 33rd and the 43rd leaders of the free world, both presidents, this article claims, had to make very tough decisions during their time in the white house and you will remember that truman, of course, was the president who okayed the dropping of the atomic bomb, ending world war ii. he left office as one of the least popular presidents of all time. but time and history has actually been quite a bit kinder to harry truman. is this potentially the same treatment that we may see for president george w. bush? i'm joined by mark mckinnen, former adviser to president george w. bush, and good to see you. >> thank you very much. there really are remarkable parallels here. they were both strong leaders, both had a real strong sense of black and white and right and wrong, a firm moral compass, led during a time of economic turbulence and war, very

tough foreign policy decisions. high ethical standards. and neither one really cared about their own personal popularity and i think historically if you look at leaders like churchill and truman, those are people like george w. bush who really didn't care much about popular opinion. truman had the lowest in-office favorable rating of 22 percent, which was even beneath richard nixon's, which was 24. so i think there's a very good chance -- i mean, history is a great arbiter more than the frame we look at in the present tiles. i think there's a very good chance that history will look favorably on george w. bush. martha: let's take a look at the polls you mentioned. they are interesting. these are presidential job approval numbers at the time of -- at the present time of their presidency, truman, the lowest of all time, he hit the lowest, 22 percent, richard nixon, under the cloud of watergate at 24 percent and president bush at 25 percent. now let's look at the next one which is a c-span poll which kind of takes a look back in history and asks

people to rank presidents in terms of leadership, abraham lincoln, george washington, fdr, teddy roosevelt, no surprise but he moved up to number five, harry truman and we show where the two president bushes are, one for the first president, and 36 for the second, george w. bush. do you think the potential is there for him to move up that list over time, mark? >> no question. that's what harry truman did, and a sign of great leaders are elected officials who are willing to make unpopular decisions that are right for the country, even though they're difficult. now, listen to some of the things that people said and historians say about harry truman, for example, he presented himself as a common sense country boy, as an intellectual light weight by the elite, called it simple marks been man, which he was not, no pretense, moved by his faith and had the heat of the media during his presidency. you look at those parallels and the good thing is that

historians look at the lens of the entire framework of our history and the troubles that these presidents saw and give them credit for the tough decisions they made. and credit for not trying to run popularity contests while president. martha: and he didn't focus much on the polls and he always said that he thought he'd be judged by history, he even said he thought that the war in iraq would ultimately be judged as something good. then we saw the neeks week cover that popped up, it said victory in iraq, it had sort of a half-picture of president bush. i think we have that cover. court of, you know, walking off camera almost at the sight of that. there's the huge victory. when you look at how vilified he was by so many in the press, it was like he couldn't do anything right, the big ear cartoons and the big cowboy hat, it just went on and on. you know, do you see that softening from some of the people who said these very same things? >> oh, i think it already is softening considerably. i think that people look at president obama and the difficult decisions and they

realize very quickly how hard it is being president. and how difficult the times that we are living in are, more dangerous or challenging than at any time in our history, arguably. so i think that people appreciate over time those presidents make tough decisions and have the ability to step out, even in the face of great unpopularity and criticism by the media. martha: interesting. >> they shouldn't be driven by the media or polls but should be driven by a sense of what's right to do. it's often not plor. martha: interesting, thank you very much for coming on and talking to us about t. good to see you. >> thanks, carry on, wereless. bill: and we shall! in the meantime, in the present day, president obama pushing for tougher sanctions on iran, despite the doughnut hole in the nuclear summit in washington that failed to produce more, shall we say, pressure on the iranian regime, holding a key meeting with china's president during this nuclear summit. the president saying that he is confident china will join

the u.s. and the u.n. to deal with iran. china's president addressing the 47-nation summit on tuesday, saying, quote, effective measures are necessary to safeguard nuclear weapons and materials, but not specifically mention iran's program. bit of a twist. martha: wall street, opened for business, about nine minutes so far, looks like investors want to keep the rally going a little bit, there it is over 11,000. that's a pretty good number to see, up 31 points in the early going. this morning, both intel and j.p. morgan chase posted better than expected quarterly profits. investors also seem encouraged about the retail numbers that came out today. looks like people are out there buying stuff, in march, sales were actually better than expected, the consumer price index, which is a gauge for inflation, that is good news, folks, if we can keep inflation in line with forecasts. yesterday the dow closed up 13 points, unlucky number but lucky for the dow, up over 11,000 points for the first time in quite a while. we see if we can keep it there. bill: in the meantime, americans are lighter in the

pocket, the white housesy the economy is recovering, a new report says income overall has dropped in the 15 minutes -- months since the president took office. what's happening to your bottom line? stephen moore address that is in moments. martha: a florida man being hailed a hero this morning, he went out and found this missing 11-year-old girl, safe and sound, and who knows how many days she could have survived out there. we're going to play the dramatic 911 call when he realized that nadia bloom was alive. >> i got her, i got nadia. >> caller? >> i'm in the middle of the swamp. >> you're in contact with her? >> i'm holding her right now, yeah, she's okay, she's got bites all over her, she's got some scratches, she is very lucid, she has no major injuries. i've got some -- i'm going to give her some liquids, i've got some stuff prepared for her.

martha: what an incredible story this is, doctors in

florida saying a girl found alive after four days alone in a swamp where there are alligators is apparently doing fine, she is 11-year-old nadia bloornlings they say she was found largely unharmed in this alligator-infested area, if you can believe it. police say a member of our family's church went looking for her and found her after spending hours searching this hour. blaims king is the man's name, he says it was an act of god that led him to find nadia. he told 9/11 -- 911 dispatchers he had her, then put her on the phone to prove it. listen to this. >> hi. this is nadia. i'm the girl that got lost. >> okay, nadia, you're okay, you're not hurt in any way? >> inaudible] >> okay. martha: they has as asperbergers, which is an autism disease. it took rescuers almost two hours to get her out of the

thick brush area that she was sort of trapped in. they treated her for dehydration and bug bites, they say that she is perfectly healthy. bill: great for her. martha: what a relief to the family. bill: writing a child's book about a girl that goes in the woods or -- wow, that's remarkable. when we su the complain shots looking for her. martha: who knows how much longer she could have lasted. bill: yeah, five days? are you feeling rich or not so much? the commerce department reported your personal income is down more than 3 percent since president obama took office in early january of 2009. so what gives you ask, huh? stephen moore, of the "wall street journal," good morning to you. >> hi bill. bill: what does give? what's happening here? >> well, let me start by saying i was just fascinated by your previous conversation you had a little earlier about all the cost of those programs that we've added. you know, i wanted to add one thing to that discussion, which is really important. if you add up all the cost of the stimulus plan, cash

for clunkers, all the mortgage modifications, t.a.r.p., we could have suspended the personal income tax for two years, bill, and we would have had less debt than all of these spending programs. that gives you a sense of how much we've been spending. bill: you say for two years, we could have suspended personal income? and still done better? >> and it would have cost less. we would have less debt if we had done that than the spending programs, which brings us to the topic of this conversation which is the decline in income we saw in 2009. it's really a discouraging thing. the average family lost about 500, to $1000 in disposable income that they could otherwise spend at the stores. there is a pinch going on right now, bill. in my opinion, with the middle class. and it's related to, a, the fact that peoples' incomes are falling, and b, that story we talked about last week about all the fees and taxes and fines and penalties that are going on at the state and local level to raise revenues to snatch more money out of the

pockets of taxpayers. so more is being taken out of the paycheck by the government, at the same time, paychecks are shrinking. bill: drill down a little bit here, all 50 states, the states that drop the most, california, 3.5%, new york, 3.8%. what does that tell you about those states? >> well, you know, isn't it interesting that the two states that in the past, bill, you know, we think about california, california has always been the state that is led us out of recession. take what happened in the '80s and '90s, you know what the saying is, as goes california goes the nation. let's hope that's not true now, because both california and new york are just in a boatload of trouble. new jersey is in a lot of trouble, too. bill: that goes to the previous point about taxes and bottom's size. the white house would argue look, man, we took on a heck of a burden here, we were dealing with one whale of a recession. have a point? >> a little bit of a point, no question about it, and bill, look, i'm actually pretty optimistic about 2010, i think things are going to get better as this

year rolls on, i think we're going to see income gains. let's keep our fingers crossed about that. but what really worries me then is what happens in 2011 because remember, bill, the bush tax cuts expire. i think that will do real damage to the economy. so 2010, i see improvements, i'm a little worried about 2011. bill: there are a lot of people talking exactly like that, stephen. and many are saying that you know, people are going to take as much of their paycheck as they can before december 31st of this year. >> that's right. bill: get around some of these tax -- the tax laws that will change the first of january. >> that's right. and my problem is with letting those tax cuts expire next year is they're taxes on businesses, capital gains, dividend taxes, small business, income taxes. i think that's really the wrong thing to do. the reason incomes have been falling bill is because a lot of people have lost their jobs. a lot of peoples' incomes have gone from 40, $50,000 a year to zero. obviously you're going to have big loses -- losses in personal income when that thing happens. the economy will recover

when people feel secure in their jobs and taxing small business ain't gonna do it. bill: they took a survey of all these economists and they found that unemployment will stay high for two years. >> yeah. bill: well over 8 percent. to the end of 2011. home prices will stay flat for the next two years, after dropping 32 percent on average nationwide. steve, i wish we had more time, we'll pick it up again later. >> okay. bill: next week, okay? from the "wall street journal". martha. martha: bill, it is where the beef over taxes really started in this country, anger about taxes from england, it of the early seeds really of the revolution, and today, it picks up where it left off, hundreds of years ago. we are just minutes away -- now you see the crowd starting to gather in a beautiful day in boston for the start of the tea party rally there. we expect sarah palin will address this crowd and we'll show you that. bill: also the changing game of baseball. so you ask, how has

technology changed it? well, that relationship between the pitcher and the batter, we've got an intriguing story coming up in a moment.

bill: today we see a whole new side of britney spears, showing herself off without any airbrushing, she says she wants you to see the imperfections normally left out of a photo shoot so here we go, this is the before and the after, left and right, for an ad she's doing for candy's fashion line, this is what airbrushing does, it gives spears a smaller waist and slimmer thighs and eliminates bruises and blemishes. in the back, the computer touchup hides a tattoo, makes the bottom look a bit

smaller and removes cellulite. spears says she made the decision to highlight the pressure exerted on women to look perfect. martha: the pressure is so intense! bill she also says she wants to help boost the self-confidence of girls. martha: good for her! jessica simpson did that cover with no makeup on. i'm going to do shall show tomorrow with no makeup on! don't worry, i won't do it! bill: you look wonderful! martha: we won't do that to you. how about the baseball story from this side of the set, okay? america's favorite pasttime, the super high-tech digital cameras measure everything from a throwing accuracy to a swing, the digital camera breaks it down and the computer that crunches all that data and determine what might actually happen on the field. some might say this is getting a bit too technical but adam housely is outside the baseball park in san francisco. are you airbrushed or

wearing makeup? curious. >> reporter: the guys in the field, we don't make the money you do in new york so you have to do our own powder on our foreheads. we're like bill. no airbrushing here, that's for sure! martha: how does all this work? >> reporter: you know about the -- you know what's cool about this story? the giants, close to silicon valley, they would be the ones to do the high-tech stuff. the company doing the baseball technology is the company that brought you the first downline on your football telecast, the yellow line on the screen when you're watching a football game, the company is fort vision, based in the bay area. we have video for you, we went out and pitched the test track system, pitch effects, fox sports calls it pitch track. we threw a baseball into a net. as you can see by using cameras and computers they track the spin on the baseball, how fast i threw it, what was the speed when it left my hand, what was the speed it when -- when it crossed home plate, how much it dropped, how much it moved, it's amazing

technology that's helping not only the baseball teams but the scouts who in the past just relied on a stopwatch and their eye, now they have tangible stuff that they can look at and believe it or not, the giants are putting this system in to track players now, to see who gets a jump on the ball the best, who gets the best route in the baseball, stuff that's just amazing martha. martha: now i know why we did this story, adam, so we could see adam housely pitch, right? how fast was that pitch? >> that pitch was my fasters, only 74. what's that? i used to be 77. it's pretty slow. bill: i'll tell you this. martha: mine is 18 miles an hour. i went to the thing at the amawzment park. it was 18. reporter error at the amusement park? one other thing, quickly, your i phones or the phones you use that watch games and stuff? what's really cool is you sit in the cheap seats, not like bill that sits behind home plate, you can actually see where the pitch was, yell at the empire -- >> martha: i got to jump in, the computer is going to stop!

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along with thousands of others all over the store. it's rollback time! save money. live better. walmart. martha: all right, big news, right now. we are just getting somewhat of a bombshell, dropped by the federal reserve chairman ben bernanke, who is sounding the alarm on the u.s. economy, he is testifying at a joint -- joint economic committee in washington and what he's expected to say is going to shake things up. he's going to tell congress they better come up with a plan to do something about the nation's dire fiscal condition, and they better come up with one, quickly. he is zeroing in on the cbo numbers that came out and the short-term impact of pulling back on the deficit and it will continue to be a serious problem after that. and he's also, you know, going to talk about just, he sort of hinted at it a week ago, but he'll come out stronger saying, look it is time to deal with the deficit or the country will be

in serious bad shape and we'll get you those comments in a minute, from now and please hang on for those and, also, it is starting to get hot at another hearing on capitol hill. a live look inside the hearing at the senate judiciary committee this morning, and, just one second, eric holder the man of the hour on the hot seat, taking a lot of questions and the, change is just getting warmed up and, that is two big stories we start you off with on "america's newsroom" in a brand new hour, good morning, i'm martha maccallum. bill: i'm bill hemmer, good morning as america's top prosecutor set to be grilled on a number of controversial matters from the 9/11 trials and closing gitmo to the recent statement on usama bin laden will never be captured and issues at the justice department, about khalid sheikh mohammed, and the 9/11 mastermind and where to try his case. on the table today. martha: national correspondent catherine herridge watching it all live from washington. what have we heard so far. >> reporter: we're a half-hour

en to the hearing on the senate judiciary committee and already, it looks like it is really going to be a scorcher and both sides have come fully prepared for the testimony of the attorney general, eric holder. and in the last few minutes, the republican on that committee, jeff sessions said to the attorney general that his actions as well as the actions of the obama administration, have, quote, undone some of the gains of the previous administration and also told the attorney general specifically, that his actions have, quote, undermined my confidence. in his abilities as attorney general. in response, the attorney general, eric holder defended the actions, of the justice department, particularly, on the issue of terrorism, and the handling of the attempted christmas day bomber, umar farouk abdulmutallab. and he said that he is now cooperating with authorities and is providing, quote, actionable intelligence. and also indicated that this administration is prepared to use both civilian and military courts for the trial of potential terror suspects,

martha. martha: i believe you spoke to lindsey graham and talk to me about what issues we'll hear from him. >> reporter: well, on the eve of the hearing i interviewed senator lindsey graham and he made the stunning statement, right now, if the united states picks up what is really considered a rising threat to the country, the american cleric in yemen, an war al-maliki, who was connected to fort hood and the attempted christmas day bombing, the administration has no claim plan in place to deal with him and don't know whether he'll go to a jail, how they'll handle him and interrogate him and what lindsey graham proposes is an overall structure where the u.s. will have the ability to pick these people up on the battlefield, detain them, interrogate them for actionable intelligence, intelligence you can actually do something with in the moment, and, then make a decision on whether a military prosecution or the civilian prosecution is best, for -- or in some cases -- this is one of

the dominant issues today, some people he argues will have to be detained indefinitely. because they were made a threat to the -- remain a threat to the u.s. but there is not sufficient evidence to prosecute them and this is something the administration has not made a decision on, and, it has created great heartburn to say the least, for some of the supporters on the left including the aclu. martha: no doubt we'll hear the question, what would you do if you got your hands on alaki and we'll look forward to hearing that, catherine herridge, as always, thank you very much. >> reporter: you're welcome. bill: and we are also waiting... in the meantime... bill: we are awaiting sarah palin and the tea party express, set to speak later this hour, tea party activists rallying against growing government and the -- in the city that in period the movement's name, boston, massachusetts and that i believe is a live look, from the helicopters above. a live look, expecting 10,000, we'll see how close they get to that number and maybe more. from the boston commons, molly line is live with the -- what is

the scene there like, molly? >> reporter: that's right, organizers say what better place to hold a tea party party the day before tax day than here in boston, the home of the original tea party, in 1773. back then it was about taxation without representation and today the organizers say it is about taxation with bad representation and there's a lot of signs talking about the incumbents, the obama administration, and the high taxes, and health care, and a lot of things happening today in washington and that is what the folks are here for, thousands are here and lots of creativity in the signs and we're on a riser and as far as we can see, nearby trees and the food being sold, packed with american people and american flags. bill: we heard there would be counter protests in boston, have they materialized and if so what do they look like? >> reporter: you know, they are here, a much smaller number than the tea party activists. by and large, perhaps, maybe around 150, 100 people or so and

respectful, standing off to the side and there are those among the crowd that are not as respectful with explicit signs and some referring to sarah palin, and a real mix of a crowd back there, respectful folks, say the tea party activists have a right to be here and give their point of vow and they have a counterpoint of view and some are not so respectful. bill: to our viewers at home the rally has begun, in boston common, boston, massachusetts on this day, april 14, sarah palin, the key speaker, we'll see her in 30 minutes on "america's newsroom." in addition, this rally goes from boston, today, to washington, d.c., tomorrow. which is as we all know, april 15. tax day. stay tuned, we'll be back to boston in a matter of minutes here on "america's newsroom." martha: we're getting interesting things coming out of the holder testimony and we'll bring them to you in a minute. hang on for those. those are developing stories, as we speak. in the meantime, let me give you this: senate republicans blasting a democratic plan to overhaul the u.s. financial system, now, this

issue is front and center right now. at the white house. and that meeting is coming up moments from now and lawmakers from both side will sit down and meet with the president, democrats want g.o.p. votes for a bill that would prevent future melt downs on wall street. and they think that that bill could actually accomplish that and republicans say that they believe this measure will have many unintended consequences. they have big concerns about and new hampshire republican judd gregg, ranking member -- the ranking member on the senate budget committee and it is our pleasure to have him with us. good morning, senator, good to see you. >> great to see you, martha, thanks for having me on. martha: the word is senator mcconnell is saying, this will allow for limited amounts of bailouts in the future. and, then i heard other critics of him say this morning, that is not the case at all. what is in the bill that concerns you? >> first off i don't think it ends the too big to fail policy which is what we should do and you cannot have companies where there is an implied security of

the american taxpayer coming in and bailing them out if they get into trouble, financially. it is and in efficient use of capital and means the markets can't deal effectively with companies that are mismanaged. and, companies that are mismanaged, take too much risk and get in trouble should go into, what basically is a bankruptcy situation, where the stockholders are wiped out and bond holders that are unsecured are wiped out and that doesn't happen under the bill proposed by senator dodd. there is the opening left and the opening there for the treasury or the fdic to come in and basically continue those companies, well beyond what should be their life expectancy, if they simply have gotten too big to fail, they should fail, no question we have to end the policy. martha: there were high hopes for there to be a bipartisan agreement on all of this. senator dodd and senator corker, originally were going to get together and work on the financial reform, which really affects everybody in the country. because taxpayers pay for the bailouts and the question of whether or not they'll happen again is very much, this is not a wall street question, this is

a people question. when it comes down to it. you have blamed the president for making this once again, a partisan issue, as health care became. explain that for me, senator. >> there are two paths they can take and one is come up with a substantive bill, on too big to fail, there was something brought up with senator corker and senator dodd on the issue of systemic risk management and essentially a regulatory oversight agreement, and there was even agreement, pretty much agreement on consumer protection. and all of that would be essentially agreed to and, then the white house woke up one morning, about a week-and-a-half ago or two weeks ago and said, let's take the populous route and we have to recapture our feet politically and we'll make this an issue, and, you know, it is -- you know, that is not going to work for the american people. because -- martha: excuse me for jumping in, what do you mean they woke up and said we'll take the

populous route. >> they decided to make it a political debate, versus a substantive debate and, they have moved from being responsible in their proposals, and, working towards an agreement, and a compromise, which basically had been worked out, most of the big issues, literally we worked out most of these agreements in the senate. martha: the thing -- >> and taking a very hard line, that is very much a political position, as versus a good position for the -- from the standpoint of making main street more solvent and giving people on main street the chance to get loans. >> let me posit this. if this is what you are getting at here, the idea republicans will stick up for wall street and that democrats won't, you know, is that -- does that get to the heart of where this is coming down? >>. >> yes. obviously they think they can post tour this republican party as being for wall street and can play the populist card of being against wall street and ironically, the bill they are supporting, the dodd bill is much more supportive of wall street, than the republican proposal which is put together -- not republican, the

bipartisan proposal put together by senator corker and senator warner which would have put an end to too big to fail and the dodd proposal leaves a questions out of there, and they try to spin the but the substance doesn't support the spin. martha: this is a hot debate and we'll stay on top of it. it is the central sort of domestic policy issue of the moment. senator gregg, always good to have you with us. thanks, sir. bill: while you were talking, breaking news on the attorney general's testimony, what eric holder is now saying about khalid sheikh mohammed and possible trials in new york city. those headlines in minutes, here. martha: plus, thousands of teachers in one state calling out sick to school in protest, should a teacher's salary be linked to how well their students do? this is a big debate in the sunshine state. we'll bring it do you. bill: he once said that is one small step for mankind -- one

small step for man and one giant leap for mankind and neil armstrong has something to day to president obama about the future of the space program. that's next. @u÷

>> three significant headlines now out of the hearing already with eric holder, opening statement there and now the questions have begun. with regard to usama bin laden, the previous statement he said, he would not be and toured alive and here's what -- captured alive and here's what holder is saying, with regard to ubl, a target for us, the plan he says is to capture or kill him and the hope to be to capture and with regard to what i said earlier that was an assessment of the likelihood he'd be able to be captured alive and concluded by saying our goal is to either capture ubl or kill him in a reference to usama bin laden. and with regard to khalid sheikh

mohammed, he is saying now, that no final decision has been made about the forum in which he'd be tried, whether gitmo or a military brig, civilian trial and the possibility of it being held at trial in new york city, and, eric holder saying, moments ago, quote, new york city is not off the table. and, a decision on that matter is still weeks away, and you might recall the white house is involved in this, and, eric holder now suggesting the right move at the moment, because they have a significant, significant role, and holder is saying it makes sense for the white house and the national security team to be involved and already a major headline, out of his testimony on the hill. >> not surprising they're leaving the new york door open and saying it is still on the table when people thought it was off the table, quite a long time ago. bill: month after month. martha: the tea party express is is setting up shop in boston, the birthplace of the original movement when the threw the tea

overboard, mad at the tax from england and that is the scene now and moments from now, sarah palin will address thousands of people, who are gathering, and we have to get the numbers -- hard to get the numbers on exactly how many are there, the estimate is thousands will be there and the grassroots group protesting the direction america is heading, one day before tax day in this country and, meanwhile we have interesting new numbers from rasmussen, this morning, look at these: 24% of those asked, all most a quarter of those asked, consider themselves part of the tea party movement. that is up 8%, since last month. last month it was at 16%, now at 24%. 10%, say, yes, i'm not in the tea party but i know somebody who's. my neighbor, family member, and 55% say they have no ties to the tea party and 11% aren't sure and might be in the tea party and might not, they are not quite sure. scott ras mous rasmussen, head

rasmussenreports.com. were you surprised by the snubs. >> good to be with you, i'm not surprised at all. a couple quick things, 24% consider themselves part of the tea party and 23% consider themselves politically liberal, a sizable bloc of voters and tying back to the original tea party, 96% of those who consider themselves part of the movement say our nation is overtaxed. martha: the next one, the opinion of the tea party movement. do you have a favorable or unfavorable opinion of the tea party movement, 40% say favorable and 42%, a larger margin have an unfavorable opinion and 18% haven't figured out what to think about this group, scott. >> that's right and, look the numbers are down from a year ago. they have taken on a very partisan taint. 70% of republicans have a favorable view, 71% of democrats unfavorable. in those unaffiliated voters are

split between and regardless of the claims of tea party members to say they really are not affiliated with either party, they are being perceived as a republican organization. >> let's look at the next one, i always find this one of the most interesting measures of where people are in the country and we look at these closely before election and we're looking at this now, do you believe the nation is headed in the right direction? scott, 62% of those asked said no. is that a surprising number to you? >> the trend has been fairly consistent. the numbers were worse at the end of the bush administration and the -- they began to get better until last may and from the moment the health care debate began the number who say they were heading in the right direction has been declining and again, tea party members, more likely than anybody else to say we're heading in the wrong direction. martha: very interesting, sir, thank you, scott, always good to see you. have a good day. bill: many doctors warned us during the health care debate a

doctor shortage would follow if it were passed into law and a new report confirms that fact. what this could mean for you, and the next time you make an appointment. marc siegel is on that, the doctor in the house. martha: why one store is pulling the bikini off the shelf, bill. bill: how about that! martha: not good news as we head towards summer. [ woman ] nine iron, it's almost tee-time.

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martha: the first man to walk on the moon slamming the obama administration's plan for the future of nasa one day before the president visits florida, he's going to deliver a very big speech on space policy tomorrow. that will get a lot of attention, that is neil armstrong, of course and he and three fellow astronauts, cosigned an open letter that

criticizes the decision to scrap nasa's constellation program to send americans back to the moon, writing: without the skill and experience that actual spacecraft operations provide, the u.s.a. is far too likely to be on a long downhill slide to mediocrity. and tomorrow we'll be joined by gene sirnin, the cosigner of the letter to the president and we'll ask his take on the future of the space program and what may be lost if we don't invest heavily in that. bill: a great guest. martha: he is a great guest. bill: check in on that tomorrow. >> a one year pay freeze for the year and pay 1.5% of their salary, for the full-time medical benefits that they get, medical, dental and vision. and that would save $800 million, and wipe out all but $20 million of our cuts and there would be no layoffs, and no program cuts, and, all the stuff is about the union's greed, rather than putting the kids first. bill: the new jersey republican

governor chris christie on with martha from yesterday, and talking about his fight with the teachers union over proposed changes in their salaries and benefits, and, new jersey's not unique, this week, thousands of florida teachers, called in sick as a protest to a new law that could be tying teachers' pay to the performance of the students and that proposed legislation at the moment is on the governor's desk. orlando salinas, at the moment is live in miami, good morning, orly. >> reporter: good morning, bill, it is. >> coming up to jesus" time for charlie crist. he has not said he's leaning one way or the other and he has a couple of choices here, and number one, sign senate bill 6 and will anger a huge voting bloc of teachers are vetoes senate bill 6 and angers a huge block of florida republicans who have been questioning his conservative credentials, anyway. listen up: >> kill bill 6... >> reporter: thousands of public school teachers are calling in

sick and showing up enmasse to protest. >> say no to the bill. martha: the controversial senate bill 6 if signed into law would make florida the first state to end teacher tenure, instead, tying the portion of their salary to their students' performance. >> i graduated with my doctorate in december and i have a lot of credential and experience and, unfortunately with the bill, if it passes, none of that will be taken seriously. >> reporter: proponents of the bill agree. experience does matter. but, say tenure keeps bad teachers in the system too long, protecting their jobs while students suffer. >> this is a fundamental -- this is the fundamental next step to america, we move beyond accountability and we're moving onto teacher quality which is the fundamentals of our business. what public educators are all about. >> reporter: okay, governor crist has until friday to make up his mind, and the florida department of education says if senate bill 6 passes, when it is implemented the best teachers in

the state of florida, could make up to $25,000 more a year, than they are making now. bill: we'll watch it from here, orlando salinas on that story, thanks. martha: an alarm new report out deals directly with your doctor. and whether or not there are going to -- there will be enough of them or will you be able to be soon by a doctor or get a nurse practitioner, a coming reality according to the study. we'll tell you all about it. bill: and they're taking to the green grass of boston common today. updates from the tea party rally including the headliner, minutes away, former alaska governor, sarah palin, speaks, shortly. t from a legal settlement or annuity over 10 or even 20 years? call imperial structured settlements. the experts at imperial can convert your long-term payout into a lump sum of cash today.

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>> this is a "fox news alert," a dire warning from the chairman of the fed today, as we go hopefully on the road to recovery for the u.s. economy, a live look at been been, testifying on the health of the u.s. economy, and, today he is urging caution, saying that federal debt -- listen to this -- our federal debt could balloon to more than 100% of our gdp, over the next ten years. that is shocking. gerri willis is live, in new york city with us. talk to me about this. what is he saying here. >> well, he's been worrying about budget deficits for a long time, and you should know ben bernanke has been calling on congress, calling on the white

house to whittle down the budget deficits and he says this year alone that number could reach $1.4 trillion. and is something like $43,000 per taxpayer, is your share of the deficit and he says in ten years, in just ten years, a decade, that that debt could equal the entirety of what our country produces in goods and services. gdp, so, shocking, yes. but he has been harping on this theme for a long time. martha: we were told during the health care reform debate that if it passed, the deficit would actually start improving. >> yes. those two ideas are in conflict. and that happens occasionally. ben bernanke has his own point of view and the white house that's their point of view and this is a theme he has been sounding a long, long time. martha: sounds like he wants to be on record as having sounded that alarm in years to come. thank you very much. gerri willis, big news out of ben bernanke today.

bill: we were warned about this during the health care debate and now a report suggesting a doctor shortage in america, is already underway. and the report argues health care reform will make the shortage even more drastic. our fox news medical contributor, dr. marc siegel, member of the medical a-team with me in studio, good morning to you, to be fair, this is saying we would have had a doctor's storage with or without health care reform and the report concludes that it is even more drastic? by how much. >> by at least 25 to 50,000 doctors more, we are anticipating according to the association of medical colleges we'll be 150,000 doctors short by 2025. bill: why would that. i thought it was supposed to make things better. >> considering the doctors that drop out of insurance which is another form of shortage, i'll tell you why. in 1997, the defense thought there was going to be a doctor surplus and this was the dumbest thing imaginable and they were in the middle of the balancing budget act and put in there, let's only federally fund

100,000 residency spots through medicare. cut it severely. and, we are paying the price, now. because, now is when the residents are coming out and weren't thinking of the fact we have an aging population, taking care of more and more people with higher technology and there has been 30 million more people added to the united states... none of this was anticipated. >> why would congress do that? were they thinking of cost controls in 1997? >> sure you recall they tried to balance the budget and it was about making it look good, rather than looking at real problems. now, it is fine they made the mistakes, but why are they adding to it, adding 32 million to the insurance coffers without looking at the doctor shortage they created. >> i want to find solutions in this discussion, but before we get there what is the effect if that is the case on patients? would it hurt people in new york city, in des moines, iowa or both. >> great question. i think both, but more in des moines, iowa. we have a lot of viewers that are in the red states and i want to tell you there is a 65 million people living in health professional shortage areas in

the u.s., right now. states like new mexico, montana, wyoming, where if you live there you can have and insurance card the federal government gets you, but there is no doctor for you to see, no nurse to see, no clinic to go to. and you can have all the insurance in the world and it will not help you, especially true in western and midwestern states. bill: what is the impact you on as a doctor. >> i'm already starting to feel, because before health reform i have an overcrowded waiting room and patients waiting to see me for a long time and i have shorter amount of time i can spend with my patient and i'm starting to see insurance companies, turn down tests they used to approve, and there will be more and more restriction in anticipation of the federal committees turning down... bill: that is interesting. something we'll keep on the table, come back and talk about that, again. the nurse practitioners. these are people who don't have the qualifications of the medical doctor and are arguing look we're in the office every day and can diagnosis symptoms and figure out whether or not a patient needs to see a specialist but they won't allow

to us write a prescription. and they say they have the capability and abilities. do they? is that a fair argument. >> we'll get e-mails, here's my view, their well trained but the problem is the laws vary state-to-state. in new york they can prescribe and other states they can't and it is unclear how to supervise one and i don't think they should be unsupervised but we don't have doctors to really supervise them, bill, medicine is a one-on-one event and if i see a patient, only i will know what the issues are, how will i communicate that to another provider who is supervising me and the nurse practitioners aren't trained on latest technology the way as doctors are -- >> that is a good point. what about solutions? what can be done given the discussion. >> there are many. i'd like to see the federal government -- they've used up all their money -- subsidize education and more residency spots an for the reform so surgeons aren't afraid to practice and 21... looming medicare costs.

bill: and we've heard the arguments before. now we'll see if that is addressed. >> i'm not optimistic but i wish some of it would be addressed, how about increasing reimbursements to doctors, they'll drop out and there will be a huge, huge revolt here. bill: keep in touch and we want to know if this is happening and if it is we'll address it directly and talk about where in the country it is happening. you made a lot of these predictions during the last 14 months. >> absolutely. bill: marc siegel, thank you, buddy, you've got it. see you again. martha: the ceo of jpmorgan chase was invited to give the commencement address to graduates at syracuse university this spring and the students, some of them, are unhappy with that choice, jamie diamond is widely respected for how he steered his company and several others, some might argue through the financial crisis but it appears, syracuse seniors believe he's a symbol of what went wrong on wall street and they are upset about that and may even protest his speech on graduation day. we would like to talk to one of

those students at syracuse university and hope the bring that to you later this week. bill: a great angle and story, too, right and he was arguing against the bailout. martha: if anything... here's the money back, take it back, i don't want it. bill: the faster the better, he say, too. more than 700 square is my and one patrol car, slashing staff at the sheriffs office in ohio's largest county. wait until you hear what a judge is saying to the residents who are concerned for their safety. arm up, he says. martha: looks like it could be curtains for the world's most fascinating fire show. today you might be ready for an encore, folks. stay tuned. ♪ ♪ i don't know where i'm gonna go ♪ ♪ let me say now ♪ i don't know ♪ i don't know ♪ i don't know where i'm gonna go ♪ ♪... you took my eggs !

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>> i'm jon scott along with jane skinner we'll see you in less than 20 minutes for "happening now and three of the heros of

america's space program are blasting president obama's decisions regarding nasa. we'll talk with jim lovell to find out why. >> the latest on the american woman who sent the russian child she adopted back home alone on a plane. we'll talk to the head of the adoption agency involved in this case, a lot of questions, coming up. martha: take you now back to capitol hill. there is very interesting back and forth, of course the attorney general, eric holder, he's being questioned now by charles grassley, senator grassley and he originally raised the question of the number of people who work in the justice department, lawyers who had work in the past, representing gitmo detainees. and he believes that that presented a conflict of interest. when they work for the same administration in government that now wanted to go after some of those people. and that is the line of questioning going on right now and i want to play a sound bite that harkens back to another controversial issue he has dealt with recently and at one point he testified in a similar

hearing that he didn't think that usama bin laden was ever going to be caught alive, and he said it wasn't an issue about where he'd be tried. the question was where would usama bin laden be tried? if he were caught and he said he'll never be caught alive and today he readdressed the issue and here's what he said: >> with regard to usama bin laden, who is our -- target one for the united states, our plan is to capture him, or to kill him. our hope would be to capture him, and to interrogate him, to get useful intelligence from him, about the structure of al qaeda. about al qaeda's plans. what i said in that hearing, was an assessment of i think the likelihood that we're going to be able to capture him, alive. what i said was, that with regard to that possibility, our attempts to capture him and from what we know about instructions, that he has given to the people who surround him, his security

forces, i think it is highly unlikely that he'll be taken alive but our goal is to capture or kill usama bin laden. martha: what he were captured where would he be tried, the civilian court system or military court system and that there is -- and there is a lot of controversy surrounding eric holder and we'll bring you news as it happens. bill: the quote says, arm yourself, that is the warning from a judge, living in ohio's largest county. the county sheriff is working with one squad car and they are leaving only one team to patrol the 720 square mile area. and, ashtabula, leading to a boost in sales at local gun shops, arm yourself, he says, northern ohio near the border with pennsylvania, along the

border there with lake erie. martha: a similar scene in the nation's second largest city. officers and detectives are being forced to take time off, a new policy barring officers at the l.a.p.d. from working overtime except for in extreme circumstances and the homicide squad may take this biggest hit because murder investigation require them to work on weekends or through the night depending how the investigation is going and now a rash of recent killings is compounding this problem. bernard park, city council member for the 8th district in los angeles joins me, welcome, good to have you here today. >> good morning, martha. martha: talk to me about why your department is having this problem. >> i think what happened is that because of the budget crisis that is going on throughout the nation, we sat down with the unions and negotiated in order to spend less money in overtime to allow them to take their overtime in time and the chief

of police but a limit on the time that could be accumulated and the story in the media didn't give the nuances and instead gave an impression in the middle of the interview of investigation, officers are being sent home and what they are doing is managing the overtime, they have a limit, so officers don't accumulate unlimited overtime. and, yet there is no instance where a homicide unit will be sent home and no one to handle the cases. but they'll manage it, and make sure it is balanced, so that they keep a handle on the overall overtime uses. martha: understood. obviously there's a lot of financial pressure on allstate workers including police departments across the country. you said that there was discussion with the unions about this. are there discussions going on in this larger sort of expense, the packages of pensions and benefits and things that might allow some of that to be somewhat alleviated in order to keep the right numbers of people on the streets at all times? >> yes. a number of things are going on,

we're reevaluating current pension systems, and also realize that that would only affect new employees. we're looking to negotiate a variety of things with our unions so that the cash available in the city and some of it has been deferred, as to the benefits, but, all of these things are going on and we're doing the same thing, every city from new york to san jose to florida. everyone is looking at the same issues, and they've pretty well come to the same conclusion and are not hiring, they are laying people off, furloughing people, looking forgive backs of benefits and salaries and all these things are part of the equation. martha: if it gets -- the give backs and salaries and cutbacks they are looking for, fill it free them up to have the right number of people in the force and not to have to worry about restricting their overtime if they need them to be on that job? >> well, you also -- always have to have a limit of overtime. the city of l.a. spends $100

million a year, in overtime, either cash or time off. and, so, there has to be a limit there. but, i think there has to be a right sizing of the city overall workforce, and, the police department, fire and others have to contribute, it just can't be on the 30% of the budget that is nonlaw enforcement or fire. martha: yes. these are the issues that are plaguing cities across the country. and of course we need e greatest protection we can have especially in big cities like los angeles, thank you very much, mr. park. good to have you with us today. >> thank you very much. bill: challenges, huh. martha: indeed. bill: talk about ashtabula county, northeastern ohio and now, los angeles, california. in a moment the tea party express, rolling through boston, sarah palin is on the stand in minutes from there. and, more bad news for toyota. in three minutes, straight ahead. martha: and, i know this question is on your mind, right, the purple bikini -- nobody is wearing that bikini, why one store has been forced to pull

this summer favorite, bill, off of their shelves forever. bill: the horror! martha: say it isn't so! bill: three minutes away. allergies? chlor-trimeton. hey, one dose of this, six hour relief. chlor-trimeton relieves itchy, watery eyes and sneezing for 12 full hours with less drowsiness than benadryl. it does all that? chlor-trimeton. less drowsy relief that lasts 12 hours. nature knows just how much water vegetables need. so, to turn those vegetables into campbell's condensed soup, we don't boil it down,

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martha: here's a story as promised, a london chain store says bye-bye to one kind of bathing suit. primak is pulling padded bikini tops made for kids off their shelves? okay. responding to complaint the suits -- bathing suits encourage the sexualization of children. and they'll donate all the profits made from the product to a children's charity and some bathing suits for young teenagers i'm finding, bill have a little bit of that padding stuff in the top, but i think it is really up to the parents, whether or not you want to buy the bathing suit. right? or allow your child to.

the store can sell what they want, don't you think, a free country. bill: i've never worn one! martha: that's another story! bill: on another note, he said, eric holder the attorney, breaking news about khalid sheikh mohammed. and the potential for a trial in new york city. and, this is eric holder, moments ago when he was asked about the possibility, roll this here: >> i know you all have questions about the prosecution of those charged with plotting the 9/11 attacks. no final decision has been made about the forum in which khalid sheikh mohammed and his codefendants will be tried, the administration is in the process of reviewing the decision as to where khalid sheikh mohammed and his codefendants should actually be tried. new york is not off the table, as a place where they might be tried. bill: from moments ago, the decision he said also is week away and with the white house now involved, he says it makes sense for the white house to be

involved in national security issues. that is eric holder, the testimony continues there on the hill. martha: from washington, up the east coast to boston, where vice presidential candidate sarah palin is addressing the crowd at the tea party gathering. let's listen for a moment. >>... great to be in boston. we've -- you've got the sox, the celtics, the bruins, you've got the patriots... [cheers and applause]. >> and of course, the original site of the original tea party. i love it. spent a lot of time here doing kids hockey stuff and the guy wouldn't know me from adam but i had the privilege of meeting ribioni, representing the great spirit of this part of our land, a hard worker, a patriotic american, it was great to meet him. and my husband, todd palin is here today, wherever todd is. [cheers and applause]. >> so forced toed to, as the

former first dude of alaska, part of his official duties would be having tea with the first ladies across the nation. so, i asked him, well, is this kind of tea party much to your liking, too, right, todd? he's happy being here, today. perfect time to come together, and -- in beantown, the day before tax day. the day the tax man cometh. on top of tax cuts expiring. in the town the sons of liberty call home. now, bostonians... martha: and, in boston, the former vice presidential candidate, sarah palin, addressing the crowd there. and introducing her husband, trying to get a handle on how many people showed up for this version of the boston tea party. i'll keep you posted on how that goes throughout the morning. bill: and she continues to talk -- foxnews.com and her speech streaming live on-line at the moment. and tax day is tomorrow. the rally goes from boston down to washington, d.c. and two

convicts escape from a maximum security prison and now are on the lam. martha: get it? there are over 5 international awards we'd bter give back. the jaguar xf. the critically acclaimed result of a very different way of thinking.

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martha: you have to see surveillance video capturing good samaritans policing their own streets and a man snatches a purse, look closely from an unattended car, and you have to look very closely in an illinois walmart and he takes off and, two teenagers see the robbery and they start yelling for help and the thief takes off, and a pickup driver heads off and he takes off on foot and eventually they tracked him down, and got him, bill! bill: i can top that. martha: really. bill: two escaped convicts on the lam, cops said they were dressed up as sheep, and broke out of a maximum security prison, wearing sheep hides as well as the sheep head, seen